Jeff Marshman

Pompey defender: We feared Oldham could get game abandoned

News of Pompey’s postponed trip to Crawley last weekend came as something of a surprise to most Blues fans.

Given the relatively close proximity between the two clubs – Pompey’s shortest trip in League Two – many felt the 9am pitch inspection call was a little on the premature side.

Thankfully, the majority of the Blues’ 2,300-strong travelling support had yet to set off on their travels to West Sussex.

Gareth Evans, though, was not so lucky.

Not on Twitter and having failed to check his phone, the defender reported to the club’s Roko training ground in Hilsea to board the team coach – only to quickly realise the error of his ways.

He said: ‘I turned up to the training ground not knowing the game was off!

‘I hadn’t looked on my phone but the lads were all messaging on the group chat that the game was off.

‘But I hadn’t seen it – I’m not on Twitter either – so I just turned up at the training ground and went to sign in.

‘I was a bit surprised to say the least – when you are hit with that you don’t know what to do.

‘I just went back home.

‘I sat in front of the TV, watched the results coming in and rested up.

‘I went to the gym a bit later on but I didn’t do a whole lot really.

‘It was a frustrating day, but by all accounts Crawley did everything they could to get the game on.

‘We were desperate to play the game and the fact it was called off so early in the morning was even more frustrating, I suppose.

‘But, like I say, it is just one of those things that happens and there’s not a lot you can do about it really.’

While Evans found himself at a bit of a loss with what to do on his unexpected day off, team-mate Christian Burgess was able to put himself to good use.

Indeed, the latter made the headlines for responding to a hopeful tweet from Blues fan Will Chitty.

Jokingly, Chitty suggested the defender could come and help him train Skilful Soccer Youth under-12s at Bransbury Park.

The central defender then stunned the star-struck boys by showing up to coach their session – also taking part in an impromptu Q&A session, before posing for photos with members of the Portsmouth Youth Football League Under-12 C Division side.

For Evans, it was no surprise to see his team-mate be so giving with his time.

He added: ‘It’s brilliant but it’s not really a surprise to me because I know that Burgey is that kind of lad.

‘He is quite keen on doing stuff in the community and he lives in Old Portsmouth, so it’s not really a surprise to me what he did.

‘He is quite keen on getting involved in activities with the club.

‘Obviously, it’s brilliant he replied to the tweet and went straight down and did the training – it’s really good.

‘It’s not something I would have done!

‘I’m only joking, absolutely, if I had Twitter I would do stuff like that.

‘I do try to do my bit in the community – there’s quite a few lads here that are good at stuff like that.

‘But Burgey is exceptional really – he is really good at stuff like that.’